My first box

This keepsake box contains alot of firsts and alot of new challanges.First off the box base is hickory, first time I had ever used hickory for anything, that’s a do again.First time I had used splined miters … (made the jig so that is a do again).And now … fanfare here … my second and third wood Shipwright hinges. The first one was a prototype of pine. Paul (Shipwright) and Andy (gdfdvm) inspired me to make these, and I used Andy’s no glue meathod and bored a 7/64 hole and used a bamboo skewer for the pin driven in, the hinges looked clunky so I sculptured them on the OS sander and my right thumb with sandpaper. Hinges are QS white oak.Splines are from a piece of rosewood that I have had since I was in Highschool … circa 1962.The little trim under the curley maple top is walnut.I sanded it to 320, and finished it with BLO to make the grain pop, and topcoated it with shellac (HVLP spray) and finishing wax. Added felt buttons fo the feet ahd Wholla!The biggest lesson I learned here are THESE ARE FUN!Comments Welcome

All these Great looking boxes as “first box projects” This is another one, Great job for a first, lots of style and added features You should be real proud of how this one turned out, Great job, thanks for sharing

Mike, I like this…especially the sculpted hinges. It looks like you had some real fun here. The legs are a nice touch. Just looking at four pictures it is hard to tell, so I might be offering hints unjustly. However my guess is that the grain at the corners will match better if you insert the inlay first. Next cut the lengths of the sides. Then undercut the ends with a 45. The grain will wrap around the rounded corners and match exactly on three sides. Link I usually put the unmatched corner in the back. Here is another trick you can try with the finger lift. Link Look at the close-up shot of the lift. I usually round over the corners before I cut the lid off, but I don’t final sand the corners until after the hinges are installed. It gives me a better fit.

This is a great start. It is certainly whole a lot better than my first box attempt. I really like what you are doing. Thanks for sharing. Keep boxing and keep posting.

Way to go Mike!!! This is my kind of box: very cool wood combination, splined miters, wooden hinges, and feet! Ya done very good here but now you are hooked. I have honestly tried to quit building these but can’t. It’s a sickness with no known cure.